


Familiar Feathers

by pantswarrior



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Suikoden III
Genre: Comedy, Community: areyougame, Drinking, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-21
Updated: 2012-03-21
Packaged: 2017-11-02 07:46:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantswarrior/pseuds/pantswarrior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the final battle, Joe finds himself in a strange little town, and encounters another from his clan - which leads to a discovery he's not sure he wanted to make.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar Feathers

Joe wasn't entirely sure where he'd wound up in the aftermath of the battle with the Rune. He could be fairly certain that the world hadn't been destroyed, seeing as he was walking around a town full of people. He just didn't recognize any of them, and the style of architecture was, although somewhat reminiscent of Vinay del Zexay, not quite right for any city or settlement he'd ever visited before. And it hadn't been nighttime when he was in the midst of the battle, but some time must have passed...

Some distance, too. No one there dressed like the Grasslanders, or the Zexens, or even the Harmonians. There were plenty of humans around, no one from the Lizard Clan, and there were some tiny white furry people with wings much like those of the Wingers running around the place too. He'd never seen anything like them, and tried not to gawk. After all, no one was gawking at him, though there were no other ducks present.

Joe wasn't inclined to be distrustful of people who lacked feathers, by any means, but he was still relieved when he happened across what appeared to be an outdoor dining area and spotted another of his own kind. No one he recognized, but that didn't matter. This duck, unfamiliar though he may be, seemed to be quite at home in whatever town this was, so perhaps he was an expatriate. Joe had heard that there were Duck Clan settlements outside the Grasslands, founded by those who had chosen to leave the homeland for some reason or another - but as Joe's father used to tell him when he wasn't getting along with his peers, "We all have beaks, after all." Duck Clan was Duck Clan, and they were all in a sense family.

Under the assumption that the stranger likely would be pleased to see another duck after so much time abroad, Joe approached with a companionable wave. "Good evening to you!" he greeted the stranger. "It's a pleasure to meet another of the Raft."

Joe was somewhat taken aback when the stranger, looking confused, responded with something completely incoherent. "What was that?"

This time, the stranger's confused response was decipherable. "Whaaat?"

All right - so he was speaking Common, just with a very strange accent. "It's no matter," Joe said. "Do you mind if I sit?"

The stranger said something else that Joe couldn't quite make out, but the gesture appeared to be an invitation. That was good enough for Joe, who could really use a seat and perhaps a few drinks after all he'd been through that day. "My name's Joe, by the way."

The stranger squawked something. After asking again, Joe thought it sounded like "Donald" - a respectable name. There had been a Donald in his village growing up... or maybe it was Howard? "Ah, nice to meet you. I know this may be a strange question," Joe began, "but perhaps you could tell me where we are? We're far from the village, obviously."

"A _long_ way," Donald agreed. 

Good - Joe was getting the hang of that accent. Or so he thought - whatever Donald said next was again incomprehensible. "Er, could you repeat that, a little slower?"

It wasn't so much an accent as just a very bad lisp, Joe determined after a little more halting conversation. But as long as Donald spoke slowly, and Joe listened closely, he could be understood. Sometimes after Joe had paused a second to try to recreate the word in his head, but Donald could be understood.

And what he was saying came as a shock. "Destroyed?" Joe repeated, incredulous.

"Uh huh!" Donald nodded emphatically. "Everyone in Traverse Town is here because their world was destroyed."

"We knew that was a risk, if we managed to destroy a True Rune," Joe said in disbelief. "There were rumors that it would shake the very foundations of the world. But - don't get me wrong, I believed in Fire Bringer, but I never thought we would actually... I guess we won," he realized. "But at the same time, it looks like we lost."

"There, there," Donald said, patting him consolingly on the shoulder. "I know it's a shock. We've all gone through it. Here, I'll buy you a drink..." He waved over a waiter and ordered... something. The waiter didn't seem to have any problem understanding Donald, at least, and disappeared inside, returning with two glasses and a bottle of something that looked strong.

"I owe you," Joe said, as Donald popped the top off the bottle and began to pour. "I'm guessing if I'm not even in the same world any more, my potch is no good."

"Potch?" Donald repeated, and shook his head. "We use munny here."

"Well, yes - the money where I come from is called potch."

"Here it's just munny."

Joe wasn't sure of the distinction, but he didn't care too much, especially now that he had a drink in front of him. He'd care less when he had a few inside of him. "So Donald... if the world has been destroyed as you say, how are we sitting here peacefully having a drink?"

Joe was beginning to get the impression, after Donald explained further (and repeated himself a few times for clarity, each time more irritably) about the nature of Traverse Town, that Donald had been there a lot longer than Joe himself had been. Upon being asked, Donald nodded excitedly. "Just between us ducks," he said, leaning towards Joe and covering the side of his beak with his wing for privacy, "since I left my hometown, I've been working for the king."

"The king?" Joe was familiar with the concept, but no nearby nation addressed their head of state by that particular title. "What king?"

"What king?!" Donald exclaimed, and went off into a long exasperated tirade that Joe couldn't make head nor tails of. There was no way, given the gleam in Donald's eye already, that he was going to ask Donald to repeat himself this time.

When Donald had finally calmed down, panting from the exertion of his explanation, Joe just nodded. "I see. So you're not from Duck Village?"

"Duckburg," Donald corrected him.

"Duckburg, hmm...?" Joe had never heard of it, but it sounded like it might be in Toran somewhere. That suspicion was all but confirmed when Donald mentioned his wealthy uncle, who had taken the surname of McDuck.

As the night wore on, and the bottle was slowly emptied, the two ducks determined that they had rather a lot in common. Both of them veteran warriors - though Donald was more a spellcaster than a fighter - and both of them having been the companion of young, naive, hopelessly headstrong boys who were destined for greatness. "In Hugo's case, a temporary greatness," Joe remarked sadly, staring morosely into his empty glass. "I wonder if he survived."

"He'll turn up here if he did," Donald consoled him, and reached for the bottle. "Here - have another drink..."

Once emptied, the bottle was replaced, and Joe couldn't begin to properly argue with Donald about payment again - the drinking was causing Donald's speech to deteriorate further still. Even if Joe couldn't figure out what was going on in the stories Donald was trying to tell, at least they ended with Donald laughing uproariously, and Joe had drunk enough that hearing Donald's laugh was enough to make him laugh too. Even so, it was a relief when Donald's partner appeared - a tall, lanky kobold. From Donald's introduction, his name might have been Gufi... or maybe Donald was just saying that he was goofy, which Joe couldn't argue with. The man reminded him in demeanor of Muto.

"Well, I was going to say the kids could use a hand back at the store," the kobold said, scratching his head in bewilderment. "But looks like you're in no shape for it."

Donald said something incoherent and dismissive, standing up with a grand gesture - and falling flat on his face. "Apparently he's no good at holding his liquor," Joe remarked to the kobold.

The kobold just chuckled. "Don't worry - I'll take care of him. That's what partners do, we take care of each other."

"It's all right, it's partly my fault," said Joe, as the two of them knelt down, each getting under one of Donald's wings as he muttered vaguely. "Gufi, was it?"

"That's right!"

"You mentioned kids...?" Joe mused. "So he's got family here... That's good, at least - that people can raise a family even in a place like this."

"Yes, Donald's been raising his nephews for years," Gufi explained, and nodded in the direction of a large set of doors before starting off. "They're a handful, but good kids. They just haven't had anyone else to look after them since his sister Della sent them along."

"Della?" Joe did a double-take over Donald's shoulders. "I, uh, knew a Della..."

"Did you?" Gufi said. "If it was really Donald's sister, I bet he'd love to hear about her. He hasn't heard from Della for ages. She left Duckburg when she was young, never came back... Just as well, considering what happened," Gufi acknowledged.

"Uhm, yeah." Joe was a little unnerved now. "Say, Gufi - where's this store that you mentioned?"

"Right over that-a-way." Gufi pointed helpfully, to a brightly-lit storefront. "If you were thinkin' to visit the boys, I can get Donald back to his room by myself."

"If it's all right with you," Joe muttered, eyeing the store warily. "It's not my way to abandon someone I've shared a bottle with."

"Oh, it'll be fine," Gufi assured him. "Donald and I have seen each other through a lot. And with you bein' new here, you might as well have a look around, get to know people."

"I'm obliged," Joe told him with a respectful bow of the head, carefully slipping out from beneath Donald's wing once he was sure Gufi had his weight. "I suppose I'll be seeing you and Donald again, Gufi."

"Of course you will," Gufi agreed.

With the assurance that an even more garbled Donald was in the hands of an earnest friend, Joe's thoughts could turn to what Gufi had let slip. Della... Lovely Della, who had come from outside the village, and never talked about her past. She'd told Joe it wasn't important - what was important was that the two of them were together, there and now, and Joe had been so enamored with her that he'd never asked for more. She'd given him more regardless, through the years... and Joe had been entirely unworthy, in the end. Of course, he told himself as he strode through the Traverse Town square towards the store, it was entirely possible that it wasn't the same Della - after all, what a coincidence that would be.

Joe opened the large double-doors at the store's entrance cautiously, uncertain of whether or not he was hoping for or _against_ what he thought he might see. Three small heads, still not yet grown into their beaks, turned brightly to face their new customer - and _eight_ eyes widened in shocked surprise.

Only three small voices rang out in unison, however, with the same lisp he'd heard from Donald: "Dad?!"

Well, Joe thought to himself - after all the unexpected happenings of the day, somehow he hadn't expected _this_.

**Author's Note:**

> ...You know, I realized while writing this that a Suikoden crossover totally explains why if Goofy and Pluto are both supposed to be dogs, only Goofy can talk. Obviously, a kobold. There we have it.


End file.
